Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps
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A super quick dinner made in 25 min! It’s so hearty, filling, and low-carb, yet the family will still be begging for more!
Featured Comment
why i love this recipe
- Weeknight super hero. With a short ingredient list and quick cook time, this dish comes together in just 25 minutes start to finish.
- Includes the best peanut sauce. This is what puts these lettuce wraps over the top – a gingery peanut sauce drizzle that is out-of-this-world amazing, adding an unbelievable depth of flavor.
- Leftovers are even better. Not only can the leftovers be frozen, but they can also be served over a bed of rice or noodles for a more rounded out meal.
tips and tricks for success
- Use your favorite protein. This recipe will work well with quick-cooking ground chicken or ground turkey. Finely diced chicken breasts or chicken thighs can also be used.
- Fish sauce is a hero. Fish sauce is a key ingredient here, balancing out the flavors, and adding saltiness and umami without overpowering it. A little bit goes a long way.
- Add heat. For a kick of heat, add Sriracha or gochujang.
- Use sturdy leaves. Use Bibb lettuce or butter lettuce – both are ideal for wrapping as they have wide, pliable and sturdy leaves without falling apart when filled.
- Freeze as needed. Portion the leftover filling into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Label, date and freeze up to 3 months.
what to serve with peanut chicken lettuce wraps
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps: Frequently Asked Questions
Fish sauce has a strong, pungent “fishy” smell but when cooked, it brings in savory, salty, umami goodness.
Bib or butter lettuce are both great choices – strong and sturdy that can hold up filling without breaking apart. Romaine lettuce is also a great option for a crisper wrap.
Leftover filling can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, adding a splash of chicken broth when reheating (if needed). Store leftover lettuce separately in an airtight container or Ziploc bag to prevent sogginess and wilting.
Yes! Let the filling cool completely and portion into plastic freezer bags. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 3.5 ounces shiitake mushrooms, diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 shallot, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 head butter lettuce
For the peanut sauce
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add ground chicken, mushrooms, carrot and shallot. Cook until browned, about 5-7 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce and fish sauce until heated through, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.
- To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style, drizzled with peanut sauce.
For the peanut sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce and ginger. Whisk in 2-3 tablespoons water until desired consistency is reached.
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I have made dozens of lettuce wrap recipes over the years, as well as dozens of peanut sauce recipes. This is the only one I have ever decided to save…it was that good! I was a little skeptical about the amount of hoisin sauce, but the fish sauce and chili garlic sauce cut the sweetness and made for great balance of flavors. I did cut the peanut sauce sugar by half, but that’s the only modification I made. This may well be one of the best recipes to come out of my “stay at home” cooking, now going on 6 weeks in my state. I keep looking for interesting things I can make using ingredients I have on hand. Sadly, I had just used the last of our cilantro (hurry up and grow, little seedlings!) and had no fresh mushrooms (thought about using frozen edamame in their place, but didn’t), but it was still great without those 2 ingredients. I am looking forward to trying it again post-Covid19 with the additional flavor of cilantro and texture of the shiitakes. Thanks for a great recipe. I am writing this review as I eat breakfast, and can’t wait to look at the rest of your site! Stay well!
These were the best yet
Absolutely delicious! The chicken has a solid kick to it but the peanut sauce eases it down so it’s not too much. Huge hit, although you may want to double the recipe if you’re serving more than 2 people!
Just made this for dinner, Wow. My husband is doing low carb so this was right up his alley. I did change a couple of things due to dietary allergies but the recipe still came out great. Due to a peanut allergy I used crunchy WOW Butter which is absolutely nut free but taste like peanut butter. I omitted the fish sauce also due to allergies. Everyone loved the meal and it is so versatile.
I slightly browned the chicken before adding the veggies and also added salt and pepper to the chicken otherwise I felt it would be missing seasoning.
This was really great! I used natural peanut butter with no sugar added, and the sauce was so good! Really easy to pull together, and it tasted good over rice, as well as in the lettuce wraps.
Sounds delicious! Do you have the nutrition info on this recipe?
AMAZING!! So good. Thank you.
Hi, this looks so yum! What I could use to substitute mushrooms? any ideas 🙂
You can omit the mushrooms, if desired, Agnieszka. 🙂
We swapped water chestnuts instead of mushrooms, it was great!
I made this with ground turkey (I just can never find ground chicken!) it was so delicious and filling but not heavy. Ya definitely wanna use a super fresh head of lettuce, the CRUNCH is superb.
This dish is usually a little overpriced in restaurants, but this recipe makes it so easy to make at home, All the ingredient except maybe lettuce are easy to keep on hand! I made it with fried rice for a whole meal.
What a great recipe.
Oh my goodness! This is such an amazing recipe. I made it tonight, just got done with dinner and everyone loved it! My kids (8 and 2 1/2) even ate it (without the lettuce). I couldn’t find fish sauce so I used oyster sauce. I also added water chestnuts in the mushroom mixture as well as peanuts for a topping. I served with cauliflower fried rice and edamame.
Thank you so much! Sooooo good
Those are great side dishes! Thanks for sharing with us, Kristie!
I loved this recipe. Thanks so much. Next time I was thinking of adding water chestnuts. Do you think that would go well with this recipe?
Absolutely!
So good! I don’t like mushrooms so I skipped that, and it was still very flavorful. So easy to make, and it comes out amazing. Would definitely make again 🙂
FANSTASTIC! I used ground turkey, plain white mushrooms, soy instead of fish sauce. We couldn’t stop eating them. Next time we will top with chopped peanuts and scallions.
My husband and I love this recipe! I’ve made it 4-5 times now and it’s fantastic! I use chunky peanut butter for extra crunch in the peanut sauce, and extra lime because we really like lime. I’ll sometimes make this in the morning or afternoon so all I have to do is heat it up for dinner, we discovered that it’s one of those meals that tastes great “left over”. I’ll even double the recipe occasionally so we can have it a few days in a row, lol!
Delicious. Made three times now. Gets better every time
I saw these on your Facebook page the other day and had to make them this weekend! Absolutely delicious and the peanut sauce was out of this world! My fiance couldn’t stop talking about these lettuce wraps tonight and how this recipe is definitely in our “make again” pile…thank you! 🙂
We love that! Thanks!
This recipe is my new favorite!
These were really tasty. I followed the directions exactly. This is definitely a recipe I’ll keep. I’ll probably use the leftover mushrooms to make mushroom ramen again, because my husband and I really liked that recipe, too.
Delicious!! I used pork instead of chicken for 1 batch and used tofu instead of chicken for another batch and both were great and loved by everyone in my family!
Nice tasty meal that comes together pretty quickly – our picky daughter even said she would would eat it again! I dislike buying ground poultry of any kind, so used a package of chicken breasts that had been hiding in the freezer instead. Chopped them into 1/4 inch dice while still semi-frozen, and they cooked up just fine. One comment/criticism of a general nature: You are inconsistent in noting the number of servings your recipes provide. We fed 3 with a serving of leftovers remaining using 2 breasts (I did ramp up the carrots and shitakes though). Assume using a pound of ground chicken would yield 4 to 5 servings. Bottom line: This is GREAT food with lots of fresh flavors – I highly recommend it!
Thank you, Mike! Glad your family enjoyed it!